How different are barriers against out-of-home activity
participation for women raising children?
Nobuaki Ohmori1, Ayako Taniguchi2, Rikutaro Manabe1, Yoshinori Terauchi3, Sadayasu Aono1
1

Department of Urban Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 1138656, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5841-6235 / Fax: +81-3-5841-8527 – E-mail: nobuaki@ut.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Corresponding author); rik@up.t.utokyo.ac.jp; sada@ut.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

2

School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Ten-noh dai, Tsukuba, 305-8573, Japan
Tel.: +81-29-853-5754 – E-mail: taniguchi@risk.tsukuba.ac.jp

3

School of Science and Engineering, Kokushikan University, 4-28-1 Setagaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-8515, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5481-3280 – E-mail: terauchi@kokushikan.ac.jp

ABSTRACTAgainst the backdrop of an ageing Japan, and as a countermeasure against the low birthrate phenomenon, the promotionof an environment that allows children, pregnant women, and parents of babies and young children to participate in out-ofhome activities in a safe and comfortable manner is increasingly becoming more important. This study focuses on barriers
encountered by parents with young children when conducting out-of-home daily activities. We classified barriers in several
categories: Transportation system, activity opportunities, household activity scheduling, childcare services, childcare
information and public attitudes towards childcare. To examine the effect of these barriers on daily out-of-home activity
participation, we conducted a web-based questionnaire survey of 1,000 women with young children living in the Kanto
Region, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Using the data collected from this survey, we analyzed the differences intravel mode by trip, segmented according to trip purpose on both rainy and fine weather days. Then, frequency ofwith/without children grocery shopping, strolls and outings to parks were modeled to further investigate importantbarriers. Finally, we examined differences in mothers’ attitudes toward several kinds of barriers given different residential
location, and the effect of personal and household characteristics on those attitudes. Findings suggest that difficulties
encountered when conducting out-of-home activities differ given different living areas. In the Tokyo central area, barriers
were related to the public transport systems and building characteristics at the destination. In Tokyo suburban areas,
barriers were associated with the pedestrian and bicycle environment. Finally, in local cities in Northern Kanto Region
barriers were more related to car use. We also found evidence suggesting that mothers with children under three years old,and nuclear families not living close to others who could support them in raising children, felt the existence of morebarriers. On the other hand, mothers with more years of experience in child-raising felt fewer difficulties in raising children.
KEYWORDS: Women raising children; Out of home activity participation; Travel behavior; Barriers.

1. INTRODUCTION
Against the backdrop of an ageing Japan, and as a countermeasure against the low birthrate phenomenon,
the promotion of an environment that allows children, pregnant women, and parents of babies and young
children to participate in out-of-home activities in a safe and comfortable manner is increasingly becoming
more important (1, 2).
Parents of babies and young children who are not able to travel alone encounter many kinds of barriers
when conducting daily activities including out-of-home activities. In recent years, through the enforcement of
the Accessibility Improvement Law in Japan (2006) and several other institutional measures, a barrier-freeenvironment not only for elderly and disabled people but also for parents with children is being promoted inpublic facilities, commercial spaces, and in road and public transportation facilities such as railway stations andtheir vicinities. However, other than barriers in transportation facilities and public facilities, there are several
categories of barriers, such as barriers in household activity scheduling, childcare services and childcare
information (1, 2). Furthermore, the types of barriers and their impact on out-of-home activities of child-raisingparents vary according to individual and household characteristics, such as household structure, number ofchildren, gender and age of children, support for childcare, employment and so on (1, 2).

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As mentioned above, the nature of many of the barriers child-raising parents face during out-of-homeactivities is different from those elderly or disabled persons face; therefore, new measures to support out-ofhome activities of households with young children are emerging in Japan. For example, “Kosodate Taxi” is achildcare taxi service, which offers special service for passengers with young children and in addition, a child
can use the taxi service alone (3). The NPO “Childcare Network of Setagaya-City” offers a web-based map forout-of-home activities with young children called “Kosodate Odekake Map”, which shows useful information
for those who want to travel with their children (4). Koto-City government designates several facilities as“Akachan-no-Eki”, i.e. baby’s station, which offer nursing places for babies, and put out information about thestation on the Internet as an “Akachan Map”, i.e. baby’s map (5). However, little is known about the types andcharacteristics of barriers for out-of-home activities with young children, effective measures to mitigate suchbarriers, or the role-sharing arrangement between departments such as city planning, transportation, andpublic welfare. From the viewpoint of countermeasures to the falling birth rate related to welfare, family andlabor policy, there is not much research focusing on child-raising in the field of transportation planning or
policy. Existing literature relates to out-of-home activities of parents with young children focusing on actual
condition of, and attitudes towards, public transport use (6, 7), factors which affects destination choice ofparents with small children (8, 9), women’s travel behavior patterns (10–12), the relationship between
women’s or children’s travel behavior and the built environment (13–17). However, there is not enoughknowledge about the effect of residential location, personal and household characteristics on out-of-homeactivities.
The purpose of this research is therefore to reveal the actual condition of out-of-home activities of childraising mothers and their attitude towards barriers given residential location, personal and household
characteristics.

2. BARRIERS AGAINST OUT-OF-HOME ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION FOR WOMEN RAISINGCHILDREN
As shown in Figure 1, there are a variety of barriers against out-of-home activity participation of childraising parents related to the transportation system, activity opportunities in their daily living area, andpersonal and household characteristics that affect parents’ out-of-home activities and their attitudes. Although
there might be several ways of classifying these barriers, the authors propose the six categories as listed below:(i)Barriers in the transportation system(ii) Barriers in activity opportunities(iii) Barriers in childcare services(iv) Barriers in household activity scheduling(v)

Barriers in childcare information(vi) Barriers in public attitudes towards childcare

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How different are barriers against out-of-home activity participation for women raising children?

Diverse Lifestyles of Child-Raising Household
Activity-Travel Patterns
Transportation System- Road Network- Transit Network

Mandatory
Activities
Out-of-Home
Activities

Maintenance
Activities

Discretionary
Activities

Activity Opportunities- For Childcare- Other Activities

In-home
Activities

TravelIndividual and Household Characteristics-Household Composition, Residence, Employment, Car Ownership…

(i) Barriers in The Transportation
System- LOS of Road Network- LOS of Transit Network

Corresponding Stakeholders- National Governments- Local Governments- Private Businesses- NPO- Employer- Child-Raising Household- Other Household(iv) Barriers in Household Activity Scheduling

Promoting Out-ofHome Activities
with Children(ii) Barriers in Activity Opportunities- Facility type, location, service
hours, barrier free facilities etc.

Promoting Out-ofHome Activities
without Children(iii) Barriers in Childcare Services(v) Barriers in Childcare Information(vi) Barriers in Public Understanding of andAttitude towards Childcare

FIGURE 1. Barriers Restricting Daily Activities for Child-Raising Parents
By mitigating (i) barriers in the transportation system, and (ii) barriers in activity opportunities, child-raisingparents’ out-of-home activities with children are promoted. It is also important to promote out-of-homeactivities without children by mitigating (iii) barriers in childcare services. In Japan, policy measures tacklingbarriers (i) and (ii) have been taken by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in thenational government, and by the bureaus of city/road/transport in the local government, whereas barrier (iii)
has been tackled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in the national government, and by thebureaus of welfare/childcare in the local government. Child-raising households encounter (iv) barriers inhousehold activity scheduling and face strong time constraints or sudden changes of schedule by theirchildren’s behavior. Therefore mitigating these barriers is also important. Along with the mitigation of barriers(i) to (iii), it is effective to alleviate (v) barriers in childcare information by offering general information on
barrier-free infrastructures and childcare services. Finally, it is most important to deal with (vi) barriers in public
understanding of and attitudes towards childcare to design counter measures against barriers (i) to (v)effectively. To cope with many kinds of barriers, appropriate co-operation and role sharing between national
and local governments, private operators, NPOs, employers, child-raising households and other households isnecessary.
The questionnaire survey was designed based on results from existing research and an original interview
survey on child-raising mothers (1, 2). This survey placed special emphasis on figuring out varieties in barrier
free environments in the transportation system and activity opportunities given different residential locations(Tokyo central area, Tokyo suburban area and Northern Kanto area), and varieties in out-of-home activities andattitudes towards several barriers between different individual and household characteristics (e.g., household
structure, employment). To recruit child-raising mothers with diverse personal and household characteristics insuch a wide study area in an efficient way, the monitors of an on-line survey company were used as the
population. Table 1 summarizes the general characteristics of the survey. In the next section, the effect ofbarriers (i) and (ii) on out-of-home activities, which vary widely between residential locations, and barrier (iv),which differs greatly depending on personal and household characteristics, are examined. Attitudes towards
these barriers are also analyzed.

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TABLE 1. Web-Based Questionnaire Survey Description
Survey Period
Respondents

April 28 - May 10, 2009
1,000 women raising preschool children, living in Kanto Region (Monitors of on-line survey
company, Rakuten Research, Inc.)*Residential location of the respondents.
Tokyo central area:
Bunkyo, Shinjuku, Minato, Chiyoda and Taito cities: 200 respondents
Tokyo suburban area:
Residents living along Tokyu railway line in Setagaya, Kawasaki and Yokohama cities: 200
respondents
Residents living along Tobu railway line and Seibu railway line in the northern Tokyo andsouthern Saitama prefecture: 200 respondents
Northern Kanto area:
Tsukuba, Mito, Hitachi, Utsunomiya, Oyama, Maebashi and Takasaki cities: 400 respondents

Survey Method
Information
ObtainedWeb-based questionnaire survey
Daily out-of-home activities
Frequency and travel modes by activity purpose
Situation and attitudes about childcare
Usage of childcare services, changes in behavior and attitudes before and after becoming amother, ownership and usage of childcare instruments, barriers in out-of-home activities withchildren, usage of childcare information
Situation of children
Nursery or kindergarten school
Individual and household characteristics
Gender, age, employment, household structure, household income, residence year, carownership, nearby railway station
OthersReasons for residential choice, countermeasures against sudden illness of children

3. ANALYSIS
3.1 Individual and household characteristics and residential location
First, the characteristics of the survey sample are described from the viewpoint of variation in personal andhousehold characteristics between different residential locations. The distribution of the age is as follows, 13%of the sample were 25 to 29 years old, 38% were 30 to 34, 36% were 35 to 39 and 12% were over 40. Threequarters of the sample were in their thirties and there was no significant difference in the age distribution
given residential location. The total employment rate of the sample was 31%. This rate differed somewhat
between residential locations: 39% in the Tokyo central area, 31% in the Tokyo suburban area, and 27% inNorthern Kanto area. As for the number of the children, 53% of the sample had one child, 36% had twochildren and 12% had three or more. The ratio of mothers that had one child was 65% in the Tokyo centralarea, 53% in the Tokyo suburban area and 46% in the Northern Kanto area. The average number of children
was 1.46 in the Tokyo central area, 1.58 in the Tokyo suburban area and 1.72 in the Northern Kanto area. 90%of the sample belonged to a nuclear household, which consists of husband, wife and their children. As for
instruments for going out with children, 86% of the sample had a “baby stroller”, 78% had a “baby carrier(string)”, and 44% had a “baby sling (cloth)”. There were few differences between residential locations in these
rates. Household car ownership ratio was 76% as a total; 40% in the Tokyo central area, 74% in the Tokyo
suburban area and 96% in the Northern Kanto area. In these rates there were significant differences between
residential locations. Especially, in the Northern Kanto area, over 60% of the samples had two or more cars. As
7for household income, the ratios of the sample whose household earned under five million Japanese yen peryear were 15% in the Tokyo central area, 32% in the Tokyo suburban area, and 44% in the Northern Kanto area.
The ratio of households with an income over seven million Japanese yen per year was 62% in the Tokyo centralarea, 38% in the Tokyo suburban area and 26% in the Northern Kanto area.

7

USD 1 = JPY 98; EUR 1 = JPY 128 at the time of execution of the survey (March 2009).

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Figure 2 shows the household structure of the sample. The sample was classified into 14 (2 x 7) categories.
The first two categories are divided by parents employment situation, i.e. single income or double income, andthe latter seven are divided by the residential location of the person on whom a household can rely forchildcare: living together (three generation household), immediate neighborhood, same city, adjacent city,same prefecture, other prefecture and nowhere. The persons on whom the respondents rely except theirhusband were “mother” (42%), “father” (18%), “husband’s mother” (18%), “husband’s father” (10%),“relatives” (4%) and “other” (4%). About 40% of the respondents answered that no one other than theirhusband offered any kind support to their childcare. The ratio of households that did not have anyone to rely
on or who had someone to rely on in other prefectures was about 60% in the Tokyo central area and about
55% in the Tokyo suburban area and the Northern Kanto area. On the other hand, the ratio of those that had
someone to rely on in the immediate neighborhood, same city or adjacent city was about 25% in the Tokyo
central area, and about 40% in the Tokyo suburban area and the Northern Kanto area. As a total, over half ofthe sample did not have anyone (i.e., parents of their own or relatives, to rely on for childcare) living close tothem, so basically, they managed to raise their children by themselves (i.e., father and mother alone).
Differences of individual and household characteristics between different residential locations are
summarized below:- Tokyo central area:

Higher rate of double income households, smaller number of children, lower car
ownership rate, higher household income, higher rate of nuclear households, lesssupport for childcare from outside of the household- Tokyo suburban area:

Intermediate nature between Tokyo central area and Northern Kanto area

- Northern Kanto area:

Higher rate of single income households, larger number of children, higher car
ownership rate, lower household income, lower rate of nuclear households, more
support for childcare from outside of the householdNorthern Kanto area (n=396)

Tokyo suburban area (n=396)

Tokyo central area (n=200)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

TG-SI

TG-DI

NU-SI-IN

NU-DI-IN

NU-SI-SC

NU-DI-SC

NU-SI-AC

NU-DI-AC

NU-SI-SP

NU-DI-SP

NU-SI-OP

NU-DI-OP

NU-SI-NO

NU-DI-NO100%

FIGURE 2. Household Structure of Respondents
Abbreviations:- 1st level

TG: three generation household; NU: nuclear household;nd- 2 level SI: single income household; DI: double income household;- 3rd level The nearest person on whom the samples could rely for childcare lived in:
IN: immediate neighborhood; SC: same city; AC: adjacent city; SP: same prefecture;
OP: other prefecture; NO: nowhere.

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3.2 Main travel modes for out-of-home activities
In the questionnaire survey, frequency and main travel mode for several types of out-of-home activities
were asked: i.e., commuting, to and from nursery/kindergarten school, to and from children’s culture lessons,outing to parks/strolls, grocery shopping, hobby/leisure/sightseeing, banking/post office/public office, hospitaland others. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the differences in main travel mode for “grocery shopping” and “outing toparks/strolls” between different residential locations. Including these two activities, in all of the activities, themodal share of car increased and modal shares of walk and bicycle decreased consistently as one moves awayfrom the Tokyo central area to the Tokyo suburban area out into the Northern Kanto area. These
characteristics would reflect differences in car ownership rate, level of services of public transport,
geographical distribution of activity opportunities and so on. This finding on mode use is similar to a study thatexamined car use by household lifecycle stage and built environment in Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area (17). As for “toand from nursery/kindergarten school”, main travel modes both on fine weather days and on rainy days wereasked. On rainy days, the modal share of bicycle decreased largely and instead modal shares of car and walkincreased compared to fine weather days in all the residential areas (Figure 5).

Northern Kanto area (n=392)

Tokyo suburban area (n=391)

Tokyo central area (n=194)

Walk

0%

20%

40%

BicycleCar

Railway, Bus

60%

80%

100%

OthersFIGURE 3. Main Travel Mode for Grocery Shopping

Northern Kanto area (n=339)

Tokyo suburban area (n=350)

Tokyo central area (n=183)

Walk

0%

20%

40%

BicycleCar

Railway, bus

60%

80%

100%

OthersFIGURE 4. Main Travel Mode for Outing to Parks/Strolls

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Northern Kanto area, rainy days (n=244)

Northern Kanto area, fine weather days (n=244)

Tokyo suburban area, rainy days (n=247)

Tokyo suburban area, fine weather days (n=247)

Tokyo central area, rainy days (n=110)

Tokyo central area, fine weather days (n=110)

0%
Walk

BicycleSchool Bus

20%
Car

Taxi

40%

60%

Railway, Bus

80%

100%

OthersFIGURE 5. Main Travel Mode to and from Nursery/Kindergarten School

3.3 Analysis on frequencies of out-of-home activities: grocery shopping and outing toparks/strolls
In this section, the effect of differences in the transportation systems and activity opportunities given
residential location, and the effect of differences in personal and household characteristics on out-of-homeactivity frequency are analyzed. In this analysis the number of days per week in which the respondent
participated in an out-of-home activity was used as a dependent variable. Therefore, upper and lower censored
Tobit model was used (Equation 1) (18).

y* = βx + ε(ε～N[0, σ2])y=0
y = y*y=7(y* =< 0)(0 < y* < 7)(y* >= 7)

y:
y*:
x:
β:
ε:

frequency (days per week)
latent variable
explanatory variables vector
parameters vector
error term

Equation 1

In the questionnaire survey, “frequency of participating in an out-of home activity with children” and“frequency with children and other adults” were also asked. Therefore, three types of “frequencies” areanalyzed; i.e., “out-of-home activity frequency of mother alone”, “out-of-home activity frequency of motherand children” and “out-of-home activity frequency of mother, children and other adults”. In these analyses,
respondents whose out-of-home activity frequency was zero were excluded because their main travel mode
was unknown. Table 2 shows the estimation results of Tobit models for “Grocery shopping” and “Outing toparks/strolls”. A positive sign of a coefficient means that the explanatory variable has a positive effect onfrequency.
As for “Grocery shopping”, the average values of “out-of-home activity frequency of mother alone”, “outof-home activity frequency by mother and children” and “out-of-home activity frequency by mother, children
and other adults” were 0.63, 1.45 and 0.78 days per week respectively. Mothers take their children in about
80% of their outings for grocery shopping, and in about 30% of their outings they were accompanied bychildren and other adults. The models include several significant independent variables. As for “out-of-homeactivity frequency of mother alone”, “number of children”, “main travel mode is walk” and “main travel modeis bicycle” have positive effects and “number of children under three years old” has a negative effect onfrequency. On the other hand, for “out-of-home activity frequency of mother and children”, “number of

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children under three years old”, “unemployed”, “nuclear household”, “the nearest convenience store underfive minutes trip”, “main travel mode is walk” and “main travel mode is bicycle” have positive effects on thefrequency. In the case of “out-of-home activity frequency of mother, children and other adults”, “number ofchildren under three years old” has positive effects and “number of children”, “nuclear household without any
support from outside”, “main travel mode is walk” and “main travel mode is bicycle” have negative effects onfrequency. The findings are as follows:− Shopping facilities within walking or bicycling distance promote shopping activity;− It is not desirable to leave children under three years old at home;− Large number of children makes it difficult to participate in activities; and− Differences in time constraints resulting from employment situation and differences in household
structure or support from outside of a household have some effects on frequency.

TABLE 2. Tobit Model Estimations for Out-of-Home Activity Frequencies of Child-Raising Mothers:
Grocery Shopping and Outing to Parks/Strolls
Out - of- home activity types

Explanatory variables

Grocery shopping
Frequency by motheralone
Coeff.

Const ant

t- value- 0.0192- 0.046

Frequency by mother andchildren

Out ing to parks/ strolls
Frequency by mother,children and other adluts

Frequency by motherand children

Frequency by mot her,children and otheradlutsCoeff.

Coeff.

t- valuet- value

Coeff.

t- value

Coeff.

- 0.647- 1.85 *0.962

4.11 * *0.631

1.72 *

0.834

3.18 * * *- 0.0323- 0.325- 0.22- 3.04 * * *- 0.208- 2.14 * *- 0.176- 2.39 * *5.15 * * *1.38

t- value

Number of children

0.401

3.27 * * *Number of children under 3 years old- 2.44- 11.9 * * *0.72

4.55 * * *

0.59

1.22

7.71 * * *0.159

Mother's job: full t ime worker

0.393

1.47

- 1.41- 6.16 * * *- 0.0384- 0.248- 2.7- 10.9 * * *0.32

2.04 * *Mother's job: part time worker

0.06920.224- 0.597- 2.2 * *- 0.0476- 0.246- 1.11- 4.05 * * *

0.123

0.631

Nuclear household with support forchildcare from outside- 0.28- 0.834

0.66

2.33 * *- 0.189- 0.990.06950.253- 0.269- 1.35

Nuclear household without any support- 0.429- 1.350.736

2.73 * * *- 0.504- 2.78 * * *0.05510.212- 0.305- 1.620.0158

0.081

0.27

1.77 *- 0.0526- 0.48- 0.185- 0.880.394

2.39 * *- 0.214- 1.83 *Living in Tokyo central area

0.298

1.46

0.443

2.92 * * *Living in Toyo suburban area

0.162

0.96

0.25

1.99 * *The nearest supermarket is within 5
minut es trip
The nearest convenience store is within 5
minut es trip

Main t ravel mode for this purpose is walk

0.484

2.13 * *0.934

5.46 * * *- 0.275- 2.24 * *0.847

3.49 * * *- 0.257- 1.5

Main t ravel mode for this purpose is bicycle

0.832

3.43 * * *0.704

3.53 * * *- 0.387- 2.61 * * *0.896

2.75 * * *- 0.401- 1.69 *σ

2.27

21.9 * * *2.09

32.5 * * *1.46

29.3 * * *2.03

33.9 * * *1.45

28.7 * * *L(C)- 1105.9- 1689.7- 1311.2- 1678.8- 1207.1L(β )- 1004.2- 1622.7- 1275.0- 1563.0- 1193.1

2

203.4

133.8

72.3

231.5

χ (=- 2(L(C)- L(β ))Number of samples

961

27.9
870

*p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01

As for “Outing to parks/Strolls”, the average values of “out-of-home activity frequency of mother alone”,“out-of-home activity frequency of mother and children” and “out-of-home activity frequency of mother,children and other adults” were 0.08, 1.72 and 0.72 days per week respectively. Mothers take their children in
about 97% of their outings to parks or strolls, their main purpose for this type of activity being to let theirchildren play outside. For about 30% of outings they were accompanied by children and other adults. The
models show the following findings. For “out-of-home activity frequency of mother and children”, “number ofchildren under three years old”, “unemployed”, “main travel mode is walk” and “main travel mode is bicycle”
have positive effects on frequency. On the other hand, in the case of “out-of-home activity frequency of
mother, children and other adults”, “full time worker”, “living in Tokyo central area” and “living in Tokyo
suburban area” have positive effects.

3.4 Mothers’ attitudes towards barriers when going out with young children
In this last section, the sample’s subjective evaluations on 14 types of barriers for out-of-home activities
corresponding to the six categories discussed in section 2 are examined. Table 3 shows the results of a logit
model based analysis of those attitudes towards barriers when going out with their children. The dependent
variables of the models are whether the respondent identifies one of those factors as a barrier for herself or

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not. The independent variables include personal and household characteristics. The sample was divided into
three subsets by residential location, and three regional models were estimated for each barrier factor.
In the Tokyo central area, choice rates of “barriers in public transit” and “barriers in buildings or facilities at
destinations” were relatively high. In the Tokyo suburban area, the choice rates of “barriers in walking” and“barriers in riding a bicycle” were relatively high. In the Northern Kanto area, choice rate of “barriers in getting
children into a car” (i.e., bothered by child safety seat) was relatively high. These results reflect differences intravel modes or destination facilities between residential locations. And these factors directly relate to barrier
category (i) and (ii) as mentioned in section 2. However, compared to the above-mentioned barrier factors,
most of the respondents consider “barriers caused by weather”, “barriers caused by crowding” (indirectly
relating to barrier categories (i) or (ii)) and “barriers in childcare schedule” (directly relating to barrier category(iv)) as barriers that affected them.
The effect of individual and household characteristics on attitudes towards barrier factors were as follow: In
the Tokyo suburban area, “number of children” increased the sense of barriers in walking and cycling, shortageof nursing rooms and weather related barriers. “The youngest child is under three years old” increased theperception of many of the barrier factors in every survey area. On the other hand, this variable decreased theperception of barriers in cycling and shortage of daycare centers in the Tokyo central area only. “The age ofoldest child”, which would represent the mother’s experience on childcare, decreased the perception ofseveral numbers of barrier factors in all of the areas. “Mother is over 40 years old” had an effect on many
barrier factors in the Northern Kanto area. “Car owner” increased the perception of car-related barrier factors
in the two areas in the Tokyo. In addition, this characteristic decreased the perception of barrier factors related
to bicycle use and crowded places in the Tokyo central area only. The car owners in the Tokyo central area
would tend not to ride a bicycle or not to visit crowded pedestrian areas with their children compared to theothers. In the Northern Kanto area, the coefficient of this variable was not significant because the majority ofthe sample in the area owned cars. “Nuclear household without any support from outside” increased theperception of barriers on shortage of daycare centers and childcare information at activity opportunities.
Differences in degrees of effects of some characteristics between different areas might reflect differences inthe built environment, the transportation system or in the demographic distribution. Further research isneeded to reveal the effect of these regional factors.

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TABLE 3. Relationship between Residential Location, Personal/Household Characteristics and Mothers’ Attitudes towards
Barrier Factors in Out-of-Home Activities with Children
Barrierno.
categories

12

1 or 2Barirer factors

Choice rates

Number of children

TC

TC

TS

NK

TS

1 Barriers in public transport

74% 57% 37%

2 Barriess in walking

36% 48% 37%+

3 Barriers in riding a bicycle

26% 36% 22%++

NK

58% 47% 44%

8 Shortage of nursing room

31% 23% 22%

Barriers caused by crowded
9peopleBarriers caused by bad
10 weather: rain, wind, hot and
cold…

++

4

12 Barriers in child care schedules 70% 61% 62%

Difficulty of getting childcare
13 information of activity
opportunities
5
Shortage of guide signs for
14 toilets or nursing rooms at
activity opportunities
Average value or composition ratio of eachcharacteristics

++

+

++

+

+

++

++

TS

NK

Nuclear householdwithout support
TC
TS
NK

-

++

++

- -

+

++
+

++

++

+

++

32% 25% 24%

+
1.46

1.58

1.72

- -

+

- -

- -

- -

-

-

-

-

+

-

Car ownerTC-

9% 12% 9%---

31% 37% 30%-

Mother's job: parttime work
TC
TS
NK

-

84% 80% 76%

11 Shortage of day care centers

Explanatory variables
Mother is over 40
Mother's job: fullyears old
time work
TC
TS
NK
TC
TS
NK

-

80% 75% 66%

3

The age of theoldest child
TC
TS
NK

- -

Barriers in getting children to a4
17% 26% 34%
carBarries in buildings or facilities
5
52% 36% 31%
at destinations
Shortage of playground for6
40% 42% 34%
children at destinations
7 Barriers in toilets

The youｎgest childis under 3 years old
TC
TS
NK

-

++

70% 63% 63% 3.14+++
- 3.96

4.47-+

11% 13% 12% 24% 17% 15%

8% 10%

9% 40% 74% 96% 73% 59% 55%

Abbreviations: TC: Tokyo central area; TS: Tokyo suburban area; NK: Northern Kanto area.
+/-: Sign of coefficients+/-: p < 0.05, + +/- -: p < 0.01.

118

++

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How different are barriers against out-of-home activity participation for women raising children?

4. CONCLUSIONSThis study focused on barriers encountered by parents with young children when conducting out-of-homedaily activities. Barriers were classified in six categories: (i) transportation system, (ii) activity opportunities, (iii)
household activity scheduling, (iv) childcare services, (v) childcare information and (vi) public attitudes towards
childcare. To examine the effect of these barriers on daily out-of-home activity participation, a web-basedquestionnaire survey of 1,000 women with young children living in the Kanto Region, including the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area was conducted. Using the data collected from this survey, the differences in travel mode bytrip, segmented according to trip purpose on both rainy and fine weather days, were analyzed. Then, frequencyof with/without children grocery shopping, strolls and outings to parks were modeled to further investigate
important barriers. Finally, differences in mothers’ attitudes towards several kinds of barrier factors between
different residential locations, and effects of personal and household characteristics on those attitudes, were
examined.
Findings from this analysis suggest that:− In all of the study areas: the Tokyo central area, the Tokyo suburban area and the Northern Kanto area,
more than half of the households did not have anyone who lived in their neighborhood and supported
their childcare (i.e., parents or relatives).
− Regarding main travel modes for out-of-home activities of mothers with young children, the share of car
increased as one moves away from the Tokyo central area to the Tokyo suburban area and out into
Northern Kanto area. On rainy days, the share of bicycle drastically decreased and the share of car orwalk increased compared to fine weather days in every study area.
− Frequency of “grocery shopping” increased when shopping facilities were within walk or bicycle
distance. It is not desirable for the mother to go shopping alone and leave children under three years
old at home. A large number of children makes it hard for a mother to participate in shopping activities.
Differences in time constraints resulting from employment situations and differences in household
structure or support from outside the household have some effects on shopping activity frequency.
− In almost all of “outing to parks/strolls” activities, mothers were accompanied by their children. Activity
frequency was affected by the number of children under three years old, the mother’s employment
situation and travel mode. Out-of-home activity frequency of mother, children and other adults
increased consistently from the Northern Kanto area, to the Tokyo suburban area, with the Tokyo
central area exhibiting the highest frequencies.
− As for barriers in out-of-home activities with children, in the Tokyo central area, choice rates of barriersin public transit and barriers in buildings or facilities at destinations were relatively high. In the Tokyo
suburban area, choice rates of barriers in walking and cycling were relatively high. In the Northern Kantoarea, choice rate of car-related barrier was relatively high. However, compared to these barrier factors,
most respondents considered barriers caused by weather or crowding, and barriers in childcare
schedule as important barriers affecting them.
− Mothers with children under three years old, and nuclear families not living close to others who could
support them in raising children, tend to feel the existence of more barriers. On the other hand,mothers with more years of experience in child-raising tend to feel fewer difficulties in raising children.
Differences in degrees of effects of some characteristics between different areas might reflect
differences in the built environment, the transportation system or in the demographic distribution.
Further study should include:− Examining the effect of barrier categories (iii), (v) and (vi) in section 2 on out-of-home activities;− Investigating the effect of regional characteristics such as built environment, the transportation systemand demographic distribution on attitudes towards barriers and behavior;− Examining the existence or not of a causal relation between attitudes towards barriers and behavior;− Surveying the role-sharing arrangement in child-raising between a husband and a wife considering thefather’s outings as well (19–20).

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Mobility and Policy – Social role and Gender attitudes explaining mobility

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